Counterfeiting Labor's Voice: William A. A. Carsey and the Shaping of American Reform Politics

by Mark A. Lause

Confidence man and canny operative, charlatan and manipulator--William A. A. Carsey emerged from the shadow of Tammany Hall to build a career undermining working-class political organizations on behalf of the Democratic Party. Mark A. Lause's biography of Carsey takes readers inside the bare-knuckle era of Gilded Age politics. An astroturfing trailblazer and master of dirty tricks, Carsey fit perfectly into a Democratic Party that based much of its post-Civil War revival on shattering third parties and gathering up the pieces. Lause provides an in-depth look at Carsey's tactics and successes against the backdrop of enormous changes in political life. As Carsey used a carefully crafted public persona to burrow into unsuspecting organizations, the forces he represented worked to create a political system that turned voters into disengaged civic consumers and cemented America's ever-fractious two-party system.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0252087895
• ISBN13: 9780252087899
• Release Date: April 2024
• Publisher: University of Illinois Press
• Length: 208 Pages